Learn Russian Pronunciation

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 20 – the final exam. You should feel proud for having made it this far. It’s a small course, but still…you put in the time and effort. After this exam you should treat yourself to something..I recommend Russian blini. Ever try them? ????? are basically crepes—very thin pancakes, usually filled with some jelly or sweet cheese inside. They’re a Russian delicacy. In fact, try to say… I want to cook (or, more literally, ‘prepare’) blini. ? ???? ??????????? ?????. Speaking of popular Russian foods, have you ever tried ????????? They’re basically dumplings filled with meat…usually pork. Here’s the word again. ???????? So try to say: I want to cook dumplings. ? ???? ??????????? ????????. With two words, ask your roommate: Want shishkabob? ?????? ??????? Want dumplings? ?????? ????????? He shrugs and says the Russian word for, Okay. ??????. Moving on: Try to say: My mother lives in Odessa. ??? ???? ????? ? ??????. My dad lives in Kharkov. ??? ???? ????? ? ????????. Anastasia is traveling to Dubai. ????????? ???? ? ?????. I’m traveling to Munich. ? ??? ? ??????. Speaking of traveling, say: In New York I want to see Times Square. ? ??? ????? ? ???? ??????? ????? ?????. Quick quiz on voicing and devoicing. Imagine these three Russian letters: ?-?-? How will that word be pronounced? Will the ‘?’ be voiced? ??? It was devoiced because, if you remember that pattern, the last letter in a cluster determines whether your vocal cords are involved. Right? So, since the ‘S’ sound (?) is naturally devoiced, it affects the “v” sound that comes before it. So not “V-syeh” but an “F” sound: Fsyeh And we’re going to need that word, which means “all”, in this next sentence. I want to see all the main tourist sites in Paris. ? ???? ??????? ??? ????????????????????? ? ?????? Try that again. I want to see all the main tourist sites in Amsterdam. ? ???? ??????? ??? ????????????????????? ? ??????????. I think that was the longest sentence in the whole course. In your studies, you’ve probably encountered the word ????, which is how Russians pronounce cafe. So try to say: I’m going to the cafe. (implying, on foot) ? ??? ? ????. Now that word we use for “to” the cafe…it’s the letter ?. But was it voiced or no? Say the phrase again: I’m going to the cafe. ? ??? ? ????. So it was devoiced. But why? Because the letter that follows, the ‘k’ of cafe is naturally devoiced. And even though it’s a separate word, in Russian, prepositions like “to, from, for” and so on, are treated as if they are part of the word that follows. We do that in English too, right? We say: I’m going t’McDonalds. We don’t say: I’m going **to** McDonalds. The word “to” basically gets absorbed into the beginning of McDonalds. Say: I’m going to the park. ? ??? ? ????. Again, ‘?’ is devoiced because of the ‘?’ in ????. Now say… I’m going to Burger King. ? ??? ? ?????? ????. There, the ‘?’ is voiced…? ?????? ????…because the ‘?’ in ?????? is naturally voiced. How will your friend ask: Where is Burger King located? ??? ????????? ?????? ????? Tell her: Burger King is located downtown. ?????? ???? ????????? ? ??????. Let’s try this. Two phrases: I’m going to the cafe. I want dumplings. ? ??? ? ????. ? ???? ????????. The word for a mini-market in Russian is an easy cognate. Listen… ????-?????? So try this: I want yogurt. I’m going to the mini-market. ? ???? ??????. ? ??? ? ????-??????. Before the word ????-??????…was that ? voiced? I want a magazine. I’m going to the mini-market. ? ???? ??????. ? ??? ? ????-??????. Next…Try to say: Taras was in St. Petersburg. ????? ??? ? ?????-??????????. Imagine that your friend is a violinist and she, somehow, misplaced her instrument. It’s not in the car, not in the hotel…and then she finds it. How will she say: The violin was in the theater. ??????? ???? ? ??????. Of course, because ??????? ends with an “ah” sound, making it feminine, she used the feminine past tense—????—to match. (Or to rhyme, really.) Let’s try that phrase again, but add an expression of relief. Thank God. The violin was in the theater. ????? ????! ??????? ???? ? ??????. Next: How do we convey the idea that: I like rock…as in, rock music. To me….is pleasing….rock. ??? ???????? ???. Say: I like jazz. ??? ???????? ????. The final letter was a Z (?), which is normally voiced. But, being at the end of the word, Russians devoice it. Say: I really like jazz. To me…very pleasing…jazz. ??? ????? ???????? ????. One last example of devoicing the final consonant…What’s the Russian version of Oh, my God? ?, ??? ???. That final letter is a G (?)…normally voiced as.’guh’… but that’s the pattern in Russian. They get devoiced at the end of a word. Speaking of endings…We’re at the end, not only of this exam, but of the whole course. Hopefully, though, this isn’t goodbye. I have two other podcasts that you can get. Russian Made Easy …and my newest one… Understanding Spoken Russian. Or, if you want to really speed things up, then I hope you’ll join my Russian Accelerator course. We’ll get you conversational in Russian in just a few months. See you soon! ?? ???????

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 19 – our last new material before the final. Hopefully you’ve noticed that, as this course progressed, I tried to get you working on things that you’re likely to say. Again, this is why I veered away from mindless pronunciation drills and tongue twisters. With that goal of practicality firmly in mind, today we’ll be learning two new verbs. Like in English, Russian verbs have an infinitive form, and then something called conjugations. Take the English verb “to be”—that’s the infinitive. The conjugations are: I am, You are, He is, and so on. So, talking only about the infinitive forms here, in Russian, almost all verbs end with a T and a soft-sign. Listen and repeat… ???? ?????? ??????? ???????? For comparison, let’s listen to those without the soft sign: ??? — ????? — ?????? – ??????? ..and with the soft sign again… Those all had an ‘a’ vowel before that T. Let’s hear some with an ? as the final vowel. ???????? ?????? ?????? ??????????? All of those are useful, but today, let’s work with that last one. Here it is in context: Even though the kids had cereal for breakfast, they still seemed to be hungry so I decided to ?????????? some scrambled eggs. …or this… I’m a big fan of Italian food, so for my birthday, my wife got me a book called How to ??????????? the Perfect Lasagna. Imagine you’re in your friend’s kitchen just before supper time. She straps on an apron and says: ? ???? ??????????? ????. How would you translate that? I want to cook, or to prepare, borscht. You try it. Say: I want to cook cabbage soup. ? ???? ??????????? ??. I want to cook shishkabob. ? ???? ??????????? ??????. Getting back to the infinitive form of Russian verbs, let’s listen to some more. ???????? ?????? ??????? ?????? Again, those are all very useful verbs, but it’s that last one I want to focus on: ?????? Can you get the meaning from context? The other day I was reading a book to my little girl which explained our sense organs. We use our nose to smell, it explained. Our ears to hear, and our eyes to …??????. Fill in the blank: Someone who is deaf is unable to hear. Someone who’s blind is unable to… Now here’s the thing about Russian verbs—and again, it’s something I cover in great detail in all my other courses—Russian verbs come in pairs. One version is used when talking about the action in general, or when emphasizing the process of it. Whereas the other version is used when you want to emphasize the result. That you finished doing whatever it was. For ex: We use our eyes to see. That’s talking in general, about the process of seeing. So the verb ?????? is the general version—what’s known as the “imperfective.” But take a phrase like this: We went to New York to see the Statue of Liberty. Here, all the focus is on the result. They saw it, and that’s that. And that version in Russian is ???????. Almost the same as ?????? but with the letter ‘?’ at the front. ??????? So, with that in mind, can you translate the following sentence? ? ???????, ? ???? ??????? ???-???. In London I want to see Big Ben. You try it. Say: In London I want to see Westminster. (Wild guess on how Russians will pronounce that ‘W’) ? ???????, ? ???? ??????? ???????????. In New York I want to see Broadway. ? ??? ?????, ? ???? ??????? ???????. In St. Petersburg, I want to see the Hermitage. (pronounced: ???????) ? ?????-??????????, ? ???? ??????? ???????. Let’s try one more round of infinitives. In these, the final vowel will be an ?. Listen and repeat… ???? ???? ??????? ??????? Again, compare the difference…without the soft sign at the end: ?????? …and with it: ??????? Let’s do some review. Try to say: I want to prepare, or cook, soup. ? ???? ??????????? ???. In Los Angeles I want to see Disneyland. ? ??? ????????? ? ???? ??????? ???????????. And from the previous lesson: Igor lives in Odessa. ????? ????? ? ??????. Anastasia is traveling to Rome. ????????? ???? ? ???. One more round… I want to cook ravioli. ? ???? ??????????? ???????. In Los Angeles I want to see Beverly Hills. ? ??? ????????? ? ???? ??????? ???????-?????. Veronika lives in Munich. ???????? ????? ? ???????. Robert is traveling to Stuttgart. ?????? ???? ? ????????. I’m traveling to Liverpool. ? ??? ? ?????????. Did you catch the soft-sign at the end? If you did you have a great ear. Alright, be sure to visit the site for the transcripts and exercises, and I’ll see you in the next episode… the final exam!

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Alright, this is episode 18 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today we’re going to expand on what we did in the last episode by including people’s names into the mix. Let’s start with the name Igor. Listen to it in Russian: ????? There’s a soft-sign at the end. For comparison, here’s how it would sound without that. ???? But again, properly, it’s: ?????. Try to say: Igor was in the theater. ????? ??? ? ??????. Now listen as the speaker says: Igor lives in Brooklyn. ????? ????? ? ????????. That’s our official phrase for today, and we’ll be using it a lot, as we practice new names and places. So, the speaker will same a name and a city. Repeat each one, and then say that that person lives in that city. For ex: ????? / ???????? ????? ????? ? ?????????. Careful with the soft-sign in there, after the letter ?. And did you add the ‘yeh’ sound at the end? Listen again… ????? ????? ? ?????????. Again, the reasoning for why we have to add the ‘yeh’ sound…that is beyond the scope of these lessons. But I cover it in great detail in all my other courses. I hope you advance to one of them after this pronunciation course. Anyway, next… ????????? / ????? ????????? ????? ? ?????. Next: ????? / ????????? ????? ????? ? ??????????. Out of curiosity, can you guess which place this is? ?????? In English, we call it: Quebec. Anyway… ??????? / ?????? ??????? ????? ? ???????. Next: ???? / ????????? ???? ????? ? ??????????. Doing a little review: How would you say: I’m going to the park. ? ??? ? ????. That was from episode #16. ??? is the ‘on foot’ version of “going”. Now try to say: I’m traveling to Quebec. ? ??? ? ??????. ??? is the “by vehicle” form of going. Listen as the speaker says: Igor is traveling to Minsk. ????? ???? ? ?????. Say: I’m traveling. Taras is traveling. ? ???. ????? ????. New name, new city. Listen? ?????? / ?????? So try to say: Sergei is traveling to Munich. ?????? ???? ? ??????. Now say: Sergei lives in Munich. ?????? ????? ? ???????. Next: ????????? / ?????? Try to say: Ekaterina is traveling to Sydney. ????????? ???? ? ??????. Next… ???????? / ??????????? So try to say: Veronika lives in Sevastopol. ???????? ????? ? ???????????. What country do you think this is? ????? China. And here’s a new name for you: ????? So try to say: Artyom is traveling to China. ????? ???? ? ?????. Next: ????? / ????? Daria lives in Zurich. ????? ????? ? ??????. Say: I’m traveling to Zurich. ? ??? ? ?????. Mixing in some locations from the previous lesson, try to say: Sasha lives in Paris. ???? ????? ? ??????. Roger is traveling to Madrid. ?????? ???? ? ??????. My wife was in St. Petersburg. ??? ???? ???? ? ?????-??????????. Vova is traveling to Kiev. ???? ???? ? ????. I really like Chicago. What’s the super literal translation for that? To me very pleasing Chicago. ??? ????? ???????? ??????. Try that again. I really like Amsterdam. ??? ????? ???????? ?????????. That’s a lot to absorb, so be sure to head over to the site, russianpronunciation.com to read the transcript and practice with all these names. And in the meantime, I’ll see you in Ep 19.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 17. Today we’ll deal with a very common pronunciation problem: The names of places. Like I mentioned back in Episode 2, the first time I heard someone say ‘???’ I had no idea what they were talking about. I figured out it was a city, but the vowel was so different I didn’t get it until she added, ???????, ???????…?????????? “Oh! She’s talking about Rome.” Place names are always tough to pronounce because we so much want to say them the way we do in English. So let’s start with some places in the U.S. Listen carefully, and repeat: ????????? That was the Russian version of Washington. Notice the ‘V’ sound up front. The letter W always poses a problem for Russians. They say ‘Vash’ instead of ‘Wash’. And do you hear the consonant cluster in there? An ‘N-G-and-T’? Listen again and tell me if the G (?) is voiced or not. ????????? The G is devoiced, becoming what sound? A ‘k’…vash-ink-tone You might think, Why do I have to work on this? Surely they’ll understand me if I call the city ‘Washington’. That’s its name, after all. That’s true. I’m sure they would…but it would be pretty jarring. I mean, when you’re speaking English, you wouldn’t tell your friends, “Yeah, so me and my buddies we’re gonna take a trip to ?????? this summer. Then we might head over to Paris, and then to København.” In English, we say Moscow and Paris and Copenhagen. Those are the correct pronunciations and it’s odd to hear them any other way…even if those are correct in their origin languages. Next: Which U.S. state is this? ??????? Again, the English W is problematic for Russians…even though they have the fundamental sounds. They could say…???-?-??…But they prefer to make it a V sound. Listen again. ??????? So, Russian prefers a ‘V” sound for our ‘W’ except…inexplicably…for the city of Wichita. Listen.. ?????? See? They can do it if they apply themselves. Here, Russian makes an effort to approximate the sound. They use ‘?-?’ to make our ‘W’. Another letter that Russian can never decide on is the English letter ‘H’. Sometimes they make it a G sound. Can you guess these locations? ?????? ????? ????????? The first one was Hawaii. Listen again…Then Ohio…very odd, to my ear, having that G (?) in there. But what can you do? And then Birmingham. It ends with a ‘gehm’ sound. And yet, these next ones, which also feature an English ‘H’…Russian went with a ‘X’ sound. ??????? ???????? ?????? Go figure. And speaking of odd choices, check this one out. The great state of… ??????? Oddly, Russian changed the “sh” sound – MISHagan…to a “?”. It’s as if they based it purely on the spelling and not how it actually sounds. Right? Someone saw the “ch” there, and said: Ok, here’s the official spelling. We’ll just use out letter ? for that. Same with the city of… ?????? Russian has a “?” sound…but someone saw that ‘ch’ and went with ?. Sticking with North America, which city is this? ??????? So, Toronto – ??????? – is a great example of how, in Russian, all unstressed O’s sound like ‘uh’. And still in Canada, Russian went with the French version of Montreal. Listen.. ???????? No ‘T’ sound in there. And careful with that soft-sign at the end. Listen again… Before moving on to cities and countries on the other side of the Atlantic, let’s review that phrase we learned in the last episode. Try to say…I’m going to McDonalds. ? ??? ? ??????????. Was our ‘?’ voiced or devoiced? It was a full ‘?’ because of the M in ??????????. Now say you’re going to Starbucks. ? ??? ? ????????. Because of the voiceless ‘??’ combination, our ‘?’ is reduced to an F sound. Now, the verb ??? translates as going…but only by foot, going to places about town. Places you could conceivably get to by foot. So let’s learn the vehicle version of that. It’s very similar. ??? For ex: I’m traveling to Toronto. (obviously by vehicle) ? ??? ? ???????. Our ‘?’ is devoiced, because of the voiceless T in ???????. Your turn. Try to say: I’m traveling to Chicago. ? ??? ? ??????. I’m traveling to Washington. ? ??? ? ?????????. I’m traveling to Montreal. ? ??? ? ????????. Excellent. Ok, now let’s move across the pond, as they say. Which European capital is this? ????? Paris. And this city? ???? Oslo. Again, a reminder that all unstressed O’s sound like ‘uh’. And that, really, is what I’m using all these names for in this episode…as a reminder of the various pronunciation patterns we’ve learned. Next: Listen to how Russians pronounce their city of St. Petersburg… ?????-????????? What happens to the G (?) at the end? Devoiced, which turns the ? into a K sound. “boork” Or in Spain, the city of….?????? Again, there’s our pattern of devoicing the final consonant. A devoiced ? sounding like T. But remember, if we add a vowel after the ?, it becomes voiced again. So try to say: Papa was in Madrid. ???? ??? ? ???????. Same with the devoiced ‘?’ at the end of St. Petersburg. If we add a vowel, the voicing returns. Mama was in St. Petersburg. ???? ???? ? ?????-??????????. The capital of Ukraine is ????. A devoiced ‘?’ because it’s the final consonant. But if we’re in Kiev, we add that ‘yeh’ sound, which brings the voicing back. My husband was in Kiev. (And let’s include the word ‘my’ this time.) ??? ??? ??? ? ?????. Hear the voiced ‘?’ now? But if we’re traveling to Kiev, we don’t add that sound. Try to say: I’m traveling to Kiev. ? ??? ? ????. Let’s do a few more. I’m traveling to Oslo. ? ???…? ????. …to Paris. ? ??? ? ?????. …to Madrid. ? ??? ? ??????. …to St. Petersburg. ? ??? ? ?????-?????????. Speaking of cities and pronunciation…What I find interesting is that the Ukrainian city – currently called ????? after the river – used to be called ??????????????. They only changed the name just a few years ago, I’m sure to make it more visitor friendly. Which figures. I finally get the name down, and they go and change it. Anyway, practice with these new place names we learned, and I’ll see you in Episode 18.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Today I’d like to return to the topic of voiced and devoiced consonants, looking at other letters this time, and more importantly, examining how it works within consonant pairs and clusters. We recall that in an unfamiliar word, it’s often very hard to guess the last letter. Take the Russian word: ??? Is that word spelled ?-?-? ? – which is how it sounds – or ?-?-and a devoiced ‘?’? Hearing the word in isolation like that, there’s no way to know. The issue here isn’t so much of developing our pronunciation. I mean, it’s no challenge to say the word ???. The issue is realizing that what sounds like, for ex, a Z might simply be a voiced S. Or what sounds like a T might be a devoiced D, and so on. This not only helps with reading, of course, but with comprehending the things we hear. So let’s get to work. What I want to uncover is the pattern behind voicing and devoicing when consonants are grouped together. Tell me: The Russian letter ‘?’…is it voiced or devoiced? Put a hand to your vocal cords…Right. So spoken in isolation, ‘B’ is voiced. But listen to it here: ? ??? ? ????????. That was four words: ?…???…?…????????. That ‘F’ sound right before Starbucks was actually our Russian ‘?’. It was devoiced. But why? Let’s look at the phrase again but instead of saying Starbucks, let’s say: I’m going to McDonalds. ? ??? ? ??????????. Again, it was four words: ?…???…?…??????????. Suddenly our Russian ‘?’ is now voiced? What’s going on? Let’s look at some more examples. All of the following words will start with the Russian ‘?’. Tell me if it’s voiced or devoiced. Ready? ????…VOICED ??????…VOICED ???…VOICELESS ???????…VOICELESS ??????…VOICELESS ???????…VOICED ?????…VOICED ??????…VOICED What’s going on with those three words where the ? was devoiced? ??? – ??????? — ?????? Hmm…I think I see a pattern: In Russian, voicing is determined by the last letter in a cluster. Take that first one: ??? Do you hear that ‘S’ sound? That letter—which looks like the English letter ‘C’—is naturally voiceless. That causes the ? to devoice, making it an F sound. And the next word: ??????? Again, the ? becomes a voiceless F sound because the T that follows it is naturally voiceless. And the next word: ?????? The ? which follows is naturally voiceless, and that devoices the ? into an F. Similarly, if the last consonant in a pair or cluster is voiced, then so are the ones preceding it….if possible. So we heard: ???????. That 2nd letter is a Z (?) …naturally voiced, which voices our ? as well. Then we heard: ?????. That 2nd letter ? is naturally voiced, which voices our ? as well. And we heard: ?????? The M is voiced, and therefore so is our ?. For our official phrases, let’s use those that we heard at the start. I’m going to Starbucks. ? ??? ? ????????. The ‘?’ is devoiced here—it’s an ‘F sound. Why? Because the consonants that follow—the ‘ST’ (?? )of ????????, are voiceless. But if we’ going to McDonalds… ? ??? ? ??????????. It’s a voiced ‘?’ sound. Why? Because the M of ?????????? is voiced. So basically, voicing shoots backwards from the end of the group. How about the phrase: I’m going to the theater. Will the ‘?’ be voiced or devoiced? Hit pause and think about it. Listen… ? ??? ? ?????. Devoiced into an ‘F’ sound, because the ‘T’ of ????? is voiceless. How about: I’m going to the park. ? ??? ? ????. Again, ‘F’ park…an F sound because the ? in ???? is voiceless. What if you’re going to the bank? ? ??? ? ????. Now it’s V bank…voiced, because the ‘?’ in ???? is voiced. Let’s work with a new letter. The Russian ?. On its own, it’s voiced. Like in these words… ????? ??? ???? But if it’s followed by a voiceless consonant? What sound will it become? Hit pause and think about that. Answer: The letter ? devoiced will sound like a T. Take the word ‘vodka’ which, in Russian, is: ?????…(sounds like “???-??”). Because that ‘k’ is voiceless, it forces the ? to sound like a T. In Episode 13, if you recall, we worked with the letter ?. On its own, it’s voiced. Like in these words… ??? ???? But if it’s followed by a voiceless consonant, how will it sound? Hit pause and think about that. Devoiced, the letter ? sounds like “sh” (?). Listen to the following word, spelled L-O-ZH-K-A ????? Again, the ‘k’ is naturally voiceless, which turns the ? into a ?. All of this works in reverse. If the last letter is voiced, then voiceless consonants change into their voiced counterpart…if there is one. Take the Russian letter ‘C’. On its own it’s voiceless. Like in these words… ??? ???? ???? But if it’s followed by a voiced consonant, how will it sound? Like in English, a voiced S (C) sounds like a Z. Think of the word dogs (sounds like dogz). The following word starts with the letters ? then ?. Listen: ??????? Since ‘?’ is naturally voiced, the ? sounded like a Z (?)…Z-dyelat. If I asked my little boy to write out that word (???????) I’m sure he’d use a Z (???????) because that’s how it sounds. These are not hard and fast rules. Some voiced consonants never change, no matter what. But I’m not going to list a bunch of rules for you to memorize, because that’s not how language is learned. We’re just pointing out the patterns, and trying to apply them to new situations. Before we go, how would you say: I’m going to the center. What sound will the letter ‘?’ have? ? ??? ? ?????. Great job. See you in the next episode!

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 15. Today we’ll be learning the chorus of a song called ???. The chorus is only three lines long, so let’s start with the first half of the first line. ? ?? ????? ??? That’s four words: A…??…?????…??? …which translates literally as: Beyond the window, it’s May. In simpler language: It’s May outside. Say the line again: ? ?? ????? ??? In Episode 13 we briefly learned the word for “life”…Do you recall it? It starts with a “zh” sound. ????? And although it doesn’t end with an ‘ah’ sound, it’s nevertheless secretly a feminine noun. Which is why, to say “my life” we need the feminine version of “my.” Do you recall that word from the last lesson? ??? So say: My life…??? ????? And what were the first four words of the chorus? ? ?? ????? ??? Say it one more time? And now say: My life…. Excellent. With that out of the way, now let’s listen to a minute or so of the song, and we’ll stop after the chorus. See if you can catch the word that comes after “??? ?????” ( song clip ) What did you hear after “??? ?????”? The word was ??? which translates as paradise. So she’s saying: Beyond the window it’s May, my life is paradise. Listen to her sing just that part. Now you say it…or sing it…: ? ?? ????? ???, ??? ????? – ???. I found the lyrics for this song on like ten different sites, and the words were always identical, which tells me they’re all copying from whatever site posted them first. And though I’m not a native speaker, I think they’re missing one word. The online lyrics give four words for the next line: ?????? ?? ??? – ???????. …but I hear the word ‘??’ before that. ?? ?????? ?? ??? – ???????. Their version translates obscurely. Literally it would be: Whispers in the ear – hug. Who whispers in the ear, you know? But if you add ‘??’ it makes more sense: He whispers in my ear…hug (me). But it’s not just that it makes more sense. I hear it. So, the heck with online lyrics, let’s try it my way: ?? ?????? ?? ??? – ???????. That 2nd word is ??? — ???….(shep…chet)…whispers That last word ??????? is a command ending with our Short E from the last lesson. Let’s review what we have. Can you say the first line? It starts with ? ??… And the second line? It starts with ?? ?????? Let’s listen to that part again, then try to echo it… (clip) I have to do a real quick, random review because this is how memory works. So…What’s the Russian word for husband? ??? And for wife? ???? Meat cooked on a skewer is called…? ?????? And a hot herbal drink is called… ??? In Russian, the fifth month of the year is called ??? Let’s get back to the song. This time I’ll give the English translation as a prompt. Beyond the window it’s May My life is paradise He whispers in the ear (meaning my ear) hug (me) Let me play the song from a few lines prior to the chorus, and see if you can recite it or sing it along with her… (clip) Alright, and now the last line of the chorus. ? ? ? ???….That’s four words: ? ? ? ??? The next word, ????? is a hard one to crank out. You have an “s” sound, and then X. That phrase “? ? ??? ?????” translates as “I’m going crazy.” Literally: I’m going out of my mind. Because he’s whispering in her ear, asking for a hug. And so she says…? ? ? ??? ????? ??-?-??. Let’s try that third line again: ? ? ? ??? ?????, ??-?-??. The whole chorus and I’ll prompt you with the first two words of each line. Ready? ? ??… ?? ??????…. ? ?… Again, for memory’s sake, I need to test you on older material. How would you say: I like tea. ??? ???????? ???. I like yogurt. ??? ???????? ??????. Where is Starbucks located? ??? ????????? ????????? Where is the cashier located? ??? ????????? ?????? My husband. ??? ???. My wife. ??? ????. Last one: Main tourist sites. ????????????????????? Ok, back to the song. Again, let me give you the English translation as a prompt. Beyond the window it’s May My life is paradise He whispers in the ear (meaning my ear) hug (me) I’m going out of my mind…ai-ya-yai Here’s the song. Try the chorus with her… If you join my Russian Accelerator course, this would be a great first recording to send in to your Success Coach. When you join the course, we assign you one of our coaches who reaches out via email within the first few days. And when she does, send her this, Just record yourself reciting the chorus—you don’t have to sing it—and then send her the file. Our coaches are used to working with total beginners, so if you send them this, I’m sure she’ll be blown away. Anyway, keep working on it, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 14. Today we’ll be covering our last ‘tricky letter’. The short E. ? This one isn’t so hard to pronounce as it is to read. For the most part, the best way to think of it is like the ‘y’ in boy…but very short and sharp. Listen and repeat as our speakers say yogurt, yoga, and York…as in New York. ??????, ????, ????, ???-???? And now some words where the ‘?’ it the final letter. Listen? ???…??? Let’s make those our official words of this lesson, so let’s try to get the meaning from context. In Russian, the fifth month of the year is called ??? Try this. Say: January, February, March, April, ??? Next: When you pour boiling water over herbal leaves, the resulting drink is called…??? Earl Gray is famous for what drink? ??? In both of those, the vowel was an ‘a’. Now let’s try our ?-??????? after an accented or stressed O. Listen and repeat…???…????…?????…????? And now we’ll hear it following an unstressed O. This is an odd sound, and definitely a stumbling block for students. Listen… ?????? Again, those last two letters are an O that’s unstressed—making it an ‘uh’ sound, as we remember—and then the short E at the end. Here are some more: ???????? ??????? ? ????? ? ????? ? ???? Moving on, let’s hear our short E after the vowel…? ?? ???? ????? ???? Quick review: Fill in the blank. Jan, Feb, March, April… ??? The two most popular caffeinated drinks are ???? and….??? Let’s extend our review back to the previous lesson. I like to read Popular Mechanics and G.Q., but Newsweek is my favorite…?????? The tallest animal on Earth is the … ?????. After a hard workout I like to get a full-body….?????? I always park my car in the …. ????? Did you remember to devoice those last two? Not “massaZH? but “massash”? Excellent. We’ll do more review in a minute. But first, how would you pronounce the following Russian word, spelled: ?-?-and ? (our Short E)? We heard it earlier in the lesson… ???…and we learned it, actually, back in Episode 9. Remember the phrase: Oh my God. ?, ??? ???. So ??? is one way to say “my”, in Russian. For ex: Say: My husband ??? ??? My shishkabob ??? ?????? My flower ??? ?????? My beet and potato soup ??? ???? My boy ??? ??????? My soup ??? ??? My tea ??? ??? For feminine nouns—ones that end with an “ah” sound in their basic form—we need a different form of “my”. Listen? ??? So try to say: My wife. ??? ???? My toy. ??? ??????? My pizza. ??? ????? My porridge. ??? ???? Let’s work some more with our Short E (?). Listen and repeat… ??-?-?? Russians use that exclamation the same way we do in English. Like: “??-?-??…look at this traffic!” And do you hear two ‘short E’s’? – ??-?-?? Next: In Russian, whenever we tell a friend or family member to do something—to Look! or Listen! or Go! and so on—the command will end with some kind of ‘ee’ sound. Not always, but almost always. It might be a long ? like…??????! Look! or ?????! Tell me! Or, just as commonly, the command will end with our Short E sound. Like the following… ????? ????? ??????? ?????? Again, each of those are commands…You’re telling someone. Do it! (?????) or Eat! (?????) Hug me. (???????) Listen! (??????) And those all ended with ‘a’ and the Short E. Some commands end with O and the Short E. Like these… ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? And a few command forms end with an “u” plus the Short E. Like these.. ????? ???????? ????? Let’s take a moment and review the letters we’ve worked with these past four lessons. Can you think of a word that starts with a “sh” sound? Hit pause if you need to. ?????? How about with that “sh-ch” sound? I’ll give you a hint: Cabbage soup… ?? And a word that starts with a “ts” sound…like “its”… ?????? How about a word that starts with “zh” (?)? ???? And today’s “short E”…We really only looked at two words which start with that sound. We heard them at the start of the lesson. Do you recall? ?????? ???? And what were our official words for today? The 5th month of the year is called…? And a hot drink that rivals coffee in popularity? And finally, today, we learned two forms of the word “my.” Try to say… My husband ??? ??? My wife. ??? ???? My boy. ??? ??????? My toy. ??? ??????? My soup. ??? ??? My porridge. ??? ???? My tea. ??? ??? My pizza. ??? ????? Alright. Great job. Next lesson we’re going to learn the chorus of a really nice song, so get those vocal cords ready and I’ll see you there.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 13. Today we’ll be working with the letter ?. In English I’d sound it out with the letters ‘ZH’. Let’s start by learning some common Russian words that have that sound, putting them—as always—in context. Ready? Imagine you’re in a doctor’s office and on the coffee table you see: VOGUE, Popular Mechanics, Cosmopolitan…Each of those is a ??????. Next word: With its seven foot neck, the tallest animal on Earth is the ?????. In these next ones, listen to how ? becomes devoiced when it’s the final letter. We know that pattern, right? So: Once a week I treat myself to a Swedish…??????. Hear that? Devoiced, it sounds like the letter “?”. Here’s another example… The standard American home has three bedrooms and a two-car ?????. Let’s try those again: Newsweek is my favorite … ?????? The tallest animal on Earth is the … ?????. After a hard workout I like to get a full-body….?????? I park my car in a …. ????? Being cognates, those four words are all pretty easy to absorb. But now let’s try two purely Russian words. Can you figure them out? Kevin and Sara are married. When Kevin introduces Sara to new acquaintances, he says, “This is Sara, my ????. And when Sara is the one making introductions, she says, “This is Kevin, my ???.” What were those two words again? ??? ???? Do you recall, back in Episode 6, we learned how to say: I was in the bank. ? ??? ? ?????. And a woman would phrase that… ? ???? ? ?????. So try to say: My husband was in Boston. Sidenote: Russians will leave off the word “my” because it’s understood. So for now let’s just say: Husband was in Boston. ??? ??? ? ???????. How about: My husband was in the bank. ??? ??? ? ?????. My wife was in London. ???? ???? ? ???????. Or try: My wife was in the theater. ???? ???? ? ??????. You might be wondering why we say ‘? ?????’. Why is there that ‘yeh’ sound at the end? That’s a great question, but it’s beyond the scope of a pronunciation course. But I will tell you, it’s the very first topic we cover in my Understanding Spoken Russian podcast. By the end of Episode #1 you’ll be a master of what’s known as the prepositional case in Russian. Meanwhile…Let’s review some of our recent vocabulary using the ‘I want’ construction. Try to say… I want a flower. ? ???? ??????. I want eggs. ? ???? ????. I want beet and potato soup. ? ???? ????. I want cabbage soup. ? ???? ??. I want shishkabob. ? ???? ??????. Now ask your friend: Want a magazine? ?????? ??????? Want a massage? ?????? ??????? Again, it’s not “massaZH” in Russian, but “massash”. Devoiced. When we hear an unfamiliar word for the first time, it can be hard to guess what that last letter is. Tell me, what’s the final letter in the following words… ??? It wasn’t a ‘T’, but actually a ? that was devoiced. Next… ??? Not an ‘F’ at the end but a ‘V’ devoiced ????? Not an ‘S’ at the end but a devoiced Z. ?????? Not a ? but today’s letter ? devoiced. But do you know what I do? I just ask. Like, with that last one, ??????…I’d ask ??? ??????, ??? ??????? Speaking of voiced and devoiced variants, let’s look again at our new words from this lesson. Fill in the blanks. During the marriage ceremony, the minister asks: “Kevin, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded…?????” “And Sara, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded…????” So ???? is our example for the voiced version of ?…and ??? has our devoiced version because it comes at the end of the word. Let’s try two more words that contain ?. ????? What does it mean? My grandfather died at the age of 97. He lived a long and happy ?????. And this word: ???? My son Andrei loves to tell people, “I ???? to pre-school every day.” Use those two words to fill in the blanks here… Imagine an angry teenager: It’s my ____, let me live it the way I want. It’s my…life. (?????) Every day after work, I ____ to the gym. I go…? ????… You don’t really need to remember those, but I wanted to share them with you because we’ll soon be learning the chorus to a Russian song, and these words are in it. So I wanted you to have some experience with them before we got there. Let’s end with some review: Newsweek is my favorite…?????? The tallest animal on Earth is the ?????. After a hard workout I like to get a Swedish….?????? I always park my car in the …. ????? What’s the Russian word for husband? And for wife? How do you say ‘life’ in Russian? And ‘go’, as in, I go to school. Alright. Great job. Check out my Understanding Spoken Russian podcast, and I’ll see you in the next episode.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 12. Today we’ll be working with the letter ?. That’s a “ts” sound…As in that’s …and Let’s…So, we’ll start by learning some common Russian words that have that sound. Let’s hear them in context: The Russian equivalent of a king or supreme monarch is called a….???? The downtown area of a city is called the….????? In Papa John’s I got a slice of pepperoni….: ????? Try those again: The Russian equivalent of a king is a….. The downtown area is called the… Papa John’s sells…. Those were pretty easy, so let’s try a purely Russian word. Again, here it is in context: A rose, a carnation, a tulip….Each of those is a kind of…?????? Now hold that thought as I sidetrack for a moment. Say the word ‘fruit.’ The Russian version is a cognate, except that they add a ‘k’ sound before the final T. Listen… ????? Again, we say ‘fruit’ and they say…????? So now…I’m going to say some English words, and you say in Russian whether the thing is a ????? or ??????. Ready? Apple…rose…orchid…banana….kiwi…lilly… And while we’re reviewing: What’s the name of that porridge which Russians love for breakfast? ???? And for lunch….Meat cooked on a skewer is called… ?????? And we also learned two Russian soups. The one based on cabbage is called… ?? And the red one, with beets? ???? Getting back to the letter of the day, let’s learn another very Russian word. You ready? The fundamental ingredient in any omelet is, of course,….???? For breakfast today, I had some toast and two scrambled…???? The start of that word almost sounds like “yikes”, doesn’t it? But it ends with the letters “ts”, and then an A. ???? (yah-ee-tsa) In Episode #8 we learned how to say, “I want…” Do you remember that phrase? ? ???? So try to say: I want eggs. ? ???? ????. And in Ep #4 we learned how to say good morning. Do recall it? ?????? ????. So, greet your roommate: Good morning. Want eggs? ?????? ????. ?????? ????? Say: No, I want fruit. ???, ? ???? ?????. Anyway….The other day, I was walking with my daughter Sophia past and we passed the local florist shop. She tugged my coat: Papa, I want a flower. Can you say that in Russian? ????, ? ???? ??????. For more practice with this letter, I wrote a poem. It’s only eight words long, and each one has our letter ? in it. We won’t bother translating it because, like all modern poetry, it makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, repeat each word after the native speaker… ????? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? The letter that it’s most often confused with is the Russian Z sound. (?) So let’s do side-by-side comparisons. ???…??? ???…??? ???…??? ???…??? It’s a lot easier to distinguish those letters when they come at the end of the word. Like these… ???…??? ???…??? ???…??? But probably the toughest two words to distinguish—probably in the whole language—are these: ????….???? The first starts with an ‘S-V’ combination. ???? The other starts with our letter of the day: ?… ???? Especially problematic because the meanings are also related. The first means light, as in, the light was in my eyes: ???? The other means color: ???? …although that brings us back to our word for ‘flower’…Do you remember it? ?????? So the word for flower has grown, if you will, from the word color. So that’s the connection you want to make. And what was the word for eggs? ???? To remember that word, you could use this phrase: I dropped the eggs. Yikes, what a mess. Yikes leads us to….???? And that leads us to…the end of today’s lesson. See you in Episode #13.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 11. Today I’ll be answering three of the most common questions I get about Russian pronunciation. The first question is about the Russian letter O. Here’s a typical email… Hi Mark, I’m confused about the letter O. Sometimes it sounds like ‘oh’ and sometimes it’s like an ‘ah’ sound. How can I know which it’ll be? Good question. You’ve probably noticed that—no matter how long a Russian word is—it only has one stressed syllable. Even the longest one of all—?????????????????????—only one vowel gets stressed. Just like English words. Now in Russian, when an O gets the stress, it is indeed pronounced like an Oh. But if it doesn’t get the stress, it sounds like ‘uh.’ Take the Russian word for milk. It has the letters ‘M-L-K’ just like English, but there’s three O’s in there: ?-?-?-?-?-? If you’ve never heard it pronounced by a native speaker, then there’s no telling where the stress will be. It could be MO-loko…mo-LO-ko…or moloKO. There’s no rule. No way to know. Listen to the native speaker: ?????? Ok. Now I know. The stress is on the end. Do you remember the word we learned that translates as “okay,” or “sure”. Like, someone tells you to call back in five minutes. You agree by saying…. “??????.” Now that word, if you’ve never seen it written, has three O’s in it, just like ??????. And since the final O is the one that get the stress, the other two are reduced to “uh” sounds. huh-ruh-SHOW. So, again, there’s no way to guess which vowel gets the emphasis in Russian. You have to hear it, first. That’s one of the reasons why, as a beginner, you want to put all your emphasis on learning to speak Russian. Because once you know the words, reading them is a breeze. You’ll already know where the stress goes. That’s the same way you learned to speak English. You had been speaking it for years, first. The second question I get a lot is about the Russian letter G (?). The emails always come just after the student encounters the word ??????. Tell me: Do you hear a ‘G’ sound in there? ??…??…?? Me neither. And yet the final consonant—that “vo” sound—is spelled with the letter G. What cracks me up is how frustrated the person always is. “Argh! I thought the letter ? was pronounced as a ‘guh.’ So why is nichivo spelled ike that? Shouldn’t it be with a V?” People…English is a million times worse. Just take our letter O. In the word ‘women’ it’s an “ih” sound, but in ‘woman’ it’s an unwriteable ‘uh’ sound. In the word ‘bother’ it’s an ‘ah’ but in “mother” it’s an “uh” sound. Even the simplest words…I mean, why doesn’t “so” (s-o) rhyme with “do” (d-o)? The letters N-O-W spell “now” but you put an S in front and you get SNOW? Even double OO’s don’t make any sense. Why doesn’t good rhyme with food? And that’s just the letter O. Heck, Russians have a joke about English: If it’s spelled Manchester, it’s pronounced Liverpool. So…Yes, the Russian ? is sometimes pronounced as a “v” sound. Big deal. Here, repeat the following words, and listen for a “vuh” sound in each one. ???????….???….????????….???????….?????? All those “vuh” sounds…they’re spelled with the letter ?. And finally, I can’t help but point out: How about the English G? Tell me how it’s pronounced in the word cough. Or garage. Compared to English, Russian is a nearly perfect spelling system, with words sounding out exactly as they’re spelled. So please, no complaining. Moving on… Most of the of emails I get are from people wanting to know if they’re pronouncing some word correctly. And that’s such an important point. You’re studying Russian on your own, learning words and phrases, but you have no one to practice with and so you’re understandably worried that you’re not saying things right. That’s what everyone worries about, I think: Will they understand me? If for no other reason, that is why I encourage you to join my Russian Accelerator course. Because along with lifetime access to the course, you get a full year of our Success Coaching. There you can send in recordings of yourself speaking Russian, and our native speaking coaches will listen and let you know that they understood you, and give helpful feedback so you can get even better. It’s one of the reasons Russian Accelerator is so popular, because it’s highly interactive. You study one of the lessons, send in your recording…then you can move on with confidence. You’ll know that Yes, people understand me. I’m saying this right. Moving on: The last category of questions I get deal with the really tricky Russian consonants. Like ? versus ? , or ? versus ? and so on. The good news is, that’s exactly what we’ll be covering in the upcoming episodes of this course. For today, let’s choose the really troublesome pair of consonants: ? vs ? On paper, they both look like an English W, except with flat bottoms. Here’s the first one which is pronounced like “sh” in English. Listen to the following syllables, each of which start with ? , and repeat after the native speaker… ?? ?? ?? ?? And now the 2nd one. Like I said, on paper it resembles an English W, but this one has a little tail on the right. So, using English letters I’d sound it out with “sh-ch”. Say the words “fish chips”…from the end of fiSH and the start of Chips…fiSHCHips. So again, repeat these two letter combinations after the native speaker. ?? ?? ?? ?? Let’s do those side by side. ?? – ?? ?? – ?? ?? – ?? ?? – ?? To really get these down, we’ll learn four new words today. All of them foods. These first two are popular Russian soups. Do you hear a “sh” or “sh-ch”? Listen and repeat: ?? ???? Those both had the tricky one…the “sh-ch” consonant. Try them again.. ?? ….is a soup made from cabbage, while… ????…is a red soup made from beets and potatoes. Next word: ?????? When you put raw meat on a skewer and put it over hot coals for a while, you end up with ?????? (shashlik). What we’d call in English shishkakbob. And do you hear how it has that simpler sound? The plain “sh” sound? Twice…?????? And finally, we have the word…????….which is porridge, usually made from buckwheat. Pretty much every Russian and Ukrainian child is raised on kasha for breakfast. Let’s try all four again. Cabbage soup is…? Beet and potato soup is….? Meat cooked on a skewer is… And the breakfast staple throughout the former Soviet Union is…. Alright. Great job. If you have a moment, please check out my Russian Accelerator course, and in the meantime, I’ll see you in Episode 12.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Alright, this is episode 10 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today is the midterm, where I’ll test you on pretty much everything we’ve learned so far. So let’s do it… How are the letters M-A-L pronounced in Russian? ??? Now add a soft-sign at the end. ???? Say those side-by-side. Without the soft-sign: ??? …and with it: ???? Next: How do Russians pronounce Italy’s capital? ??? What is the main food item sold at places like Burger King and McDonalds? ????????? Speaking of rolled R’s, what’s the Russian name of this instrument? (violin) Remember that mnemonic device we came up with—what I calla PowerPhrase? I gave up the violin because all I did was make scraping sounds. That word scrape leads us to… ??????? ??????? starts with a consonant cluster. The topic of Ep #3. So let’s try another one from that lesson. Try to pronounce a Russian V-D-and R…(???)…Now add an “u” sound at the end. ????…????… Finally, if we put a Russian G (?) at the very end, how will it sound? Do you think it’ll be voiced or unvoiced? ????? G was the final letter, so—following the pattern—we don?t voice it, and so it sounds just like a K. ????? (like “?????”) Next, let’s try some listening practice with that pair of vowels: ? and ? In each of the following words, say “the first one” if you hear that troublesome ? vowel…and say “the second one” if you hear the ? vowel. Ready? ???….1st one ???….2nd one ????….1st one ??….1st one ???….2nd one ???….1st one You’re doing great, let’s keep going. In Episode #8 we worked with that Russian letter X. So tell me, what are we listening to here? (Bach choir) ??? We say ‘choir’, but Russians replace that “ch” with their X sound. And the composer, by the way…His name is Johann Sebastian…what? ??? When an artist like Taylor Swift releases a new album, she probably hopes that every song will become a….what’s the word in Russian? ??? To sweeten my coffee, I added a tablespoon of…what’s the word? ????? Great job. And then, in Episode 9 we looked at the phenomenon of voiced and devoiced consonants. Let’s take the Russian letter B…It looks like a capital English ‘B’. When it stands alone, it’s voiced. V. So, how will this word be pronounced? (???) V-A-S? Will it be voiced or unvoiced? ??? Very much voiced. But let’s put it at the end of a word. ?-?-?-?…How will that sound? ???? Unvoiced. Like an “F” ???? (like ????) by the way is how Russians say pilaf…that rice kind of dish. Now let’s put that letter in the middle of a word. (????) L-A-V-A…How will it sound? ???? Voiced again. Got it? You’re doing great. …but we’re not done. Let’s run through the words and phrase we officially learned in each lesson. Ask your friend: Pavel was in the park? ????? ??? ? ?????? Change Pavel to Maria. ????? ???? ? ?????? Did you add that ‘a’ to the end of the verb—????–because Maria is a woman? Next: I’m gonna butcher some French words here, but…The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre museum, and the Arc D’ Triumph are just a few of the _____ in Paris. What’s the word? ????????????????????? Next: How do we convey the idea that: I like soccer. How do Russians literally phrase that? To me….is pleasing….soccer. ??? ???????? ??????. Say: I really like basketball. Literally….what? To me…very pleasing…basketball. ??? ????? ???????? ?????????. Ask someone: Where is Starbucks located? ??? ????????? ????????? Imagine you’re staying in a Moscow hotel. It’s morning time, so greet the concierge, and then ask him where GOOM is. ??? is a famous shopping mall. ?????? ????. ??? ????????? ???? So, you walk to Red Square, which is where GOOM is located, and on the way you decide instead to see Lenin’s tomb. But when you get there, the line stretches all the way along the Kremlin wall. What’s the Russian version of, Oh, my God… ?, ??? ???. Imagine you’re waiting for you bags in the airport. Finally, your Samsonite comes chugging along the conveyor. How do you express your relief in Russian? ????? ????…Literally? Glory to God. Next: My wife and I have twins. Sophia is our little girl. And William is our….??????? Did you nail that soft-sign after the L? That’s why we learned that word. Say it again.. It helps to almost say the English word “mile”…mile-cheek…but bring your tongue up to the roof of your mouth. ????-??? Next…Fill in the blank. When I was a boy, my favorite ____ was my G.I. Joe doll. ??????? So, your hotel bar is offering free soft drinks. Without trying to sound too rude, tell the bartender: I want a Sprite. ? ???? ??????. In your apartment, you offer to make dinner for your roommate. Pull out a can of Campbell’s chicken broth and ask him, with two words: Want soup? ?????? ???? You could also phrase it the other way: ??? ??????? He shrugs and says the Russian word for, Okay. ??????. We’re just about done here, guys. And since I’ll be seeing you in the next episode, how should we part ways? Literally…Until the meeting. ?? ???????

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 9. Today we’re going to examine a phenomenon known as voiced and devoiced consonants. Here’s what I’d like you to do. Assuming you’re not driving at the moment, put your fingers on your throat and say the word “cats.” Now say the word “dogs.” Feel the difference? Both words end with the letter S, but our vocal cords only vibrate when we say “dogs.” And that vibration, when we use our vocal cords to make a consonant, we call it voicing. Pretty logical term. Now here’s a question: When did you memorize these rules for which consonants in English are voiced? Did you study some charts in a textbook? Or maybe your English teacher explained the rules back in grade school? You must’ve memorized them somewhere, or else how do you know that—for example—the letters “ed” at the end of the word ‘parked’ are devoiced, and yet the ‘ed’ at the end of ‘shoved’ are voiced? Of course you didn’t memorize any rules. That’s ridiculous. What happened was, as a kid, you had tons of exposure to these sounds and over time you picked up the patterns. That’s all it is. And yet, do a search of “russian pronunciation,” and every single course you find makes a show of all the pronunciation rules they intend to make you memorize. As if that is how language is learned. The way language is actually acquired—the way our brains are hard wired—is to look for patterns. For ex: The Russian letter ? On its own you can feel that ? is voiced. Our vocal cords vibrate. So listen, and repeat these words: ?????? ?????? ???? ??? The G was at the start of those words, and it was voiced each time. In these next ones, the G will be the last letter. Listen: ??? ???? ??? Is it just me, or did those all sound like they ended with a K? Listen again… Well, actually, those are G’s…but they are devoiced. So it seems that we’ve spotted a pattern. Let’s see if we can extrapolate. How will the Russian word for ‘flag’ be pronounced? It’s a direct cognate, spelled with an F, an L, an A and a G. What’s your best guess—how will it sound? ???? (like: ????) Did you make that G at the end sound like a K? Awesome. That means the pattern is already sinking in. Let’s look at those last four words—the ones where ? (G) was the final letter—but not let’s add a vowel after that G. Listen… ???? ????? ???? ?????? Huh…Our ‘G’ is now voiced again. Interesting. Listen again. So how do you think the Russian word for a ‘toga’ will be pronounced? You know, like that white robe the ancient Romans used to wear. T-O-?-A…What’s your guess? Listen… ???? Was the G voiced or not? It was voiced. Gosh, how did you get that right? We haven’t memorized any pronunciation charts yet. Don’t we need a long and complicated list of rules before we can correctly pronounce Russian words? No. We just need to spot the patterns. Let’s try that again with a different letter. The Russian ? (D). Like the letter ?, the Russian letter ? is voiced when it stands alone. And in these words? Listen… ?????? ???? ???? ??? The ? was at the start of those words, and it was voiced each time. In these next ones, it will be the last letter. Listen. ??? ??? ??? Again….Is it just me, or did those all sound like they ended with a T? Listen again. Well, actually, those are D’s…but, being at the very end of those words, they’re devoiced. So again, let’s see if we can extrapolate. How will the Russian word for ‘code’ be pronounced? Just three letter: K-O-? ??? Did you make that ? at the end sound like the letter ?? Awesome. Let’s look at those last four words—the ones where ? was the final letter—and let’s add a vowel after it. Listen… ????? ???? ???? ???? Huh…Our ? is voiced again. So, here’s a quiz: There’s a very popular, very cheap Russian automobile, and it’s spelled like this: L-A-D-A. How do you think the word is pronounced? ???? Did you voice the ?? Excellent! To help us internalize these patterns, let’s learn two ?????? phrases. For now, just listen and repeat: ?, ??? ???… That was three words. O, ??? ??? Imagine you and your partner have been arguing about something for hours. It seems like you’ve finally agreed to disagree and you walk away…and then the other person brings it up again. You say, “Oh (groan…groan). Are we still talking about this?” (i.e. Oh my God!) Are we still talking about this?! What would you say there, where I groaned? “Oh my God, are we still discussing this?” That’s what ?, ??? ??? means. Literally, Oh…my….God. That last word is spelled ?-?-? but the G (?) is devoiced. ??? Here’s our second phrase: ????? ???? That’s just two words. Listen again? What does it mean? Well, let’s say you’re out somewhere with friends when you realize your wallet is missing. In a panic, you check everywhere. Can’t find it. So you go to the cafe where you guys had lunch. And there it is, under the table where you’d been eating. You pick it…”????? ????…I found it!” In normal English, we’d say, “Thank God.” But literally in Russian ????? ???? translates as Glory to God. And since the G (?) is no longer the final letter, it’s back to being voiced. Let’s do those side by side. Oh my God… ?, ??? ???. Thank God…lit: Glory to God… ????? ???? For today’s review, see if you can recall on your own, the official word or phrase from the first eight episodes. You do that, and I’ll see you in Ep. 10… our mid-term!

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 8. Today we’re going to work with this letter: ? …which, on paper, looks like an X. It’s similar to that sound we make when we don’t like some food. ???? (yuch) When importing words from other languages, Russian sometimes use ? in place of a “ch” sound. So, “choir” becomes: ??? And “character” – like, he’s got a nice character – becomes: ???????? But more often, they use it in place of the English ‘h’. For example, Halloween becomes: ???????? Hooligan becomes ??????? A hit, in the sense of a hit song, is: ??? (Remember, Russians don’t have an “ih”, so that vowel becomes an “ee.”) The Hulk becomes: ????…and so on. One of the most common Russian words with this sound is: ?????? If you’ve been at Russian for a while, you’ve likely encountered that word, but here it is in context, just in case. Imagine that you were just riding an amazing roller coaster. “How was it?” your Russian friend asks. And you say… “????? ??????!” Hey, how was the new Terminator movie? “????? ??????!” So in that context, ?????? translates as good. But it’s also used to agree with some proposal. For ex: “Hey Mark, wanna shoot some hoops?” “??????. Let me just put sneakers on.” “Alright. Be outside in five minutes and I’ll pick you up.” “??????.” So here it translates as, “Ok, sure”. I never found it too hard to pronounce that letter when it was the start of a word. But for some reason it’s a little tougher when it’s in the middle. For example, the word Manhattan in Russian is pronounced: ????????? Or this word: ?????. …which is Russian for ‘sugar’… (a word they took from German.) Try to say: I like sugar. Lit: To me is pleasing sugar. ??? ???????? ?????. Another word where X is in the middle is: ?????. It’s kind of a bad word. Like, “Man, I hate that guy! He’s such a ?????!” Usually translates as jerk. Oddly, Russians decided to use the ? sound when pronouncing the state of Texas. Odd, because they could sound it out much more accurately with other letters: (?-?-?-?-?-?.) But instead, they used ? for the English X. Listen: ?????. It’s almost as if someone just looked at the word and decided, “Okay, this is how we’re gonna spell it.” As opposed to listening. So try to say: Olga was in Texas. ????? ???? ? ??????. Or this: Houston is located in Texas. ??????? ????????? ? ??????. The official word I’d like to teach you today is actually a two word phrase: ? ???? Again, you’ve probably encountered that phrase elsewhere, but having taught thousands of people Russian over the years, I can say it seems pretty hard for some students to pronounce. They either don’t say it strongly enough….basically turning it into an (English) H…Ya hochu. Or they hit it way too hard: ? ???? (aggressive X) Remember earlier, how my friend invited me to play hoops? Imagine afterwards, I mention I’m thirsty. He opens his fridge: “I’ve got Sprite and Pepsi.” So I say…”? ???? ??????.” “??????.” (soda can pops open) “??,”…he says, handing me the can. So, ? ???? translates as I want. Try to say: I want sugar. ? ???? ?????. I want ketchup. ? ???? ??????. Mind you, it’s pretty rude—in any language—to phrase things this way. But we’re just practicing our new construction. To ask a friend if they want something, we need a different form of the verb—what’s known as a conjugation. Listen: ??????? You want? Mark, want soup? ????, ?????? ???? ??????. You try it. Say: Irina, want a hamburger? ?????, ?????? ?????????? Pavel, want a hotdog? ?????, ?????? ???-???? Say: I want a salad. ? ???? ?????. I want borscht….(which is a soup made from beets and potatoes.) ? ???? ????. Let’s end with some review. You’ve just arrived to St. Petersburg and your friend asks what you’d like to see. With one word, say: the main tourist sites. ????????????????????? How do you greet someone in the morning? ?????? ???? And how might you part ways with a friend? ?? ???????…Which literally means? Until the meeting Let’s say you’re talking about holidays. Try to say: I like Halloween. ??? ???????? ????????. In a bar, your friend is offering to buy you a beer. Tell him: I want a Heineken. ? ???? ????????. Turns out, the bar is out of beer, so how does your friend ask: Want a Pepsi? ?????? ?????? Okay. ??????. If you got most of those, you’re doing great. Hopefully you’re feeling more confident about your Russian pronunciation. And if so, I encourage you to check out my video-based course, called Russian Accelerator. And in the meantime, I’ll see you in the next episode.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 7 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today we’re going to learn a sneaky little trick, a pronunciation hack, I guess they’d call it, to help with a very common Russian word. I call it a whisper vowel. So here’s the word we’ll be focusing on today: ???????? It starts with an N – R combination. It’s very hard, for me, anyway, to jump from pure silence, directly into that N sound. So I add a whisper vowel in front of it. The sound “ih”. Like this: ih-nravitsa. It’s just for practice, so I can get a feel for the word. Then I alternate back and forth. Like this: ih-nravitsa…????????….ih-nravitsa…???????? What does the word mean? It’s very tempting just to tell you the translation, but again, that would be lazy teaching…and it’s not the best way for you to really grasp the word. These examples are gonna be a little awkward, but let’s just see what translation you come up with. So…This woman… (audio clip) I find her voice very mellifluous. I love listening to it. But this guy (annoying guy from Independence Day)…Ugh, his voice, to me, is not nravitsa. Or this example: I find mushrooms disgusting. But onions, to me, are very nravitsa. Tricky, isn’t it? Almost every course out there will translate ???????? as “like”. That is: I like pizza. – ??? ???????? ?????. And I am telling you, that is not correct. Because the word literally translates as “is pleasing.” Pizza to me is pleasing. ????? ??? ????????. It’s much more commonly phrased this way: To me….is pleasing….whatever. To me is pleasing soup. ??? ???????? ???. Yes, if I’m interpreting for someone, of course I’ll use normal English and translate it as: I like soup. But to speak Russian grammatically, you have to think the way they think. And with this verb, ????????…you’re not “liking” anything. It is the food—or whatever it is—that’s doing the action. The pizza is pleasing to you. This is called Super-Literal Translation. It’s an absolutely vital step in trying to learn the language. So basically, here’s the process: I want to tell say: I like rice. But before saying anything in Russian, you have to think of the Super Literal way that Russians phrase that idea, which is: To me…is pleasing…rice. And that is the version that we then translate from: ???….????????…???. Again, this course is meant to focus on pronunciation issues, which is why I keep directing you my other, conversational courses like Russian Made Easy or my online video course, called Russian Accelerator. Because in those courses, I give you the SLT—the super literal translation—of every single phrase, training you to think in Russian. So be sure to check those out…but for now, let’s get back to our word of the day. Try to say: To me…is pleasing…football. ??? ???????? ??????. I like basketball. ??? ???????? ?????????. Try not to pause between your words. Remember, that’s what fluency is all about. No pauses. So not this: ???. ????????. ????. But instead…???-????????-????…Like it’s one long word. ???? by the way, is the sport of boxing. Alright, let’s do some review. Ask your friend: Pavel was in the bank? ????? ??? ? ?????? Change Pavel to Maria. ????? ???? ? ?????? Did you add that ‘a’ to the end of the verb—????–because Maria is a woman? That was our big vowel from the last episode, right? ? And do you remember the formal way to say “you” in Russian? ?? Good. And the version you’d use with friends? ?? Imagine that a man is about to introduce himself. Listen? ???? ????? ?????. Repeat his name and add, Very pleasant. ?????? ????? ???????. So let’s use that word ?????…(which means “very.”) In normal English, I might say: I really like tennis. In Russian, they would would phrase that idea like this: To me very pleasing tennis. Listen… ??? ????? ???????? ??????. Try to say: I really like soccer. That is: To me very pleasing football. ??? ????? ???????? ??????. Remember, keep that sound flowing. No pauses, especially not between ????? and ????????. If you want to pause for effect, you could do this: ???…????? ????????. Now the word ????? ends with a soft-sign. So let’s compare. Let’s take away the soft-sign… ???? (that’s not a word in Russian) And now, properly, with a soft-sign at the end: ????? Again, side by side: No soft-sign: ???? And with it…. ????? It’s almost like the first “n” in the word onion. (slowly) onion…There’s a nyeh sound. Listen again: ????? So, imagine you’re at a Russian friend’s house having dinner. What do you think she’s asking you: ???? ???????? ???? To you is leasing the soup? In other words, do you like the soup? Say: Yes. Very. ??. ?????. Let’s try that again. ???? ???????? ?????? To you is pleasing the salad? Say: Yes. Very. A little more review from earlier episodes. What’s the Russian word for ‘boy’? ??????? And the word for ‘toy’? ??????? And speaking of rolled R’s…How do you greet someone in the morning? ?????? ???? Quick question—answer this in Russian: What’s the capital of Italy? ??? And speaking of that city: The Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum, the Pantheon…those are just a few of the….what’s the word? ????????????????????? Say: I really like Rome. Lit: To me very pleasing Rome. ??? ????? ???????? ???. I really like Berlin. ??? ????? ???????? ??????. Alright. Keep up the great work, and I’ll see you in Episode #8.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Alright, this is episode 6. Today we’re going to hone in on the most troublesome vowel for non-Russians. Listen and repeat: ? On paper, it looks like a lower-case English b, next to a capital I. But again, it’s a single letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. Listen again..? Now there’s another Russian vowel that sounds very similar to it. Listen: ? Let’s listen to them side by side. The first…? and the other one ? So that first one, I find myself tightening my throat to make the sound. There’s almost this “uh” sound at the start of it. Whereas this one…?…really matches the E in American English. For comparison, let’s put some consonants in front of those. We’ll start with a V sound… ?? (…versus…) ?? That first one, ??, is how Russians say “you” when speaking formally to someone. It’s the ‘you’ that you’d use when talking to your boss, or really any adult you don’t know. Listen to them again side-by-side: ??….?? You might be wondering…Man, the difference is so small. Does it really matter? And to be honest, it just depends. Depends on the words, on the phrase. Native speakers want to understand you, okay? They’re trying. But sometimes, one tiny vowel can change the whole meaning. Allow me to demonstrate that point by sharing a true story. So, I was visiting a friend once, in Russia, in a city called Krasnodar. She was a language major at the university, okay? She spoke English great. Fluently. But remember…fluent is not the same thing as speaking without an accent. And though she and I mostly spoke in Russian, she wanted the chance to use her English with me, a native speaker, so I asked her to tell me about her grandparents. People, this is a true story. So she says her grandmother was a painter, and her grandfather worked with wood. So this one time he carved a sheep. I’d seen other wood carvings around the city—I’d seen one of horses, and in the city center there was a big wood carving of some Cossack warrior—so I could believe he’d done one of a sheep. She had no photos of it, so I asked her to show me how big it was. She made a face, and then she said, “From here…” then she walked across the room, “…to here.” I was like, Wow. That’s really big. What’d they do with it? She made a face like it was obvious. “They used it to cross the river,” she said. So I’m trying to envision this ginormous wooden sheep, like something out of Game of Thrones, like a Trojan Horse or something, and people are clinging to it as they float down the river. “Yes,” she said. “And it had two big sails.” That’s when my arm hairs stood up, and I realized: Holy God, this woman has been saying the word “ship.” The man built a wooden ship…not a sheep! One tiny little vowel and the whole story takes on a totally different meaning. That’s why we’re focusing on the Russian vowel ? today. When we’re speaking Russian, we don’t want to be telling any stories about giant wooden sheep. On a side note: Most Russians, even ones with a lot of experience in English, living in country, they can not distinguish between “ih” and “ee.” Ship / sheep, fit / feet, and so on. That’s why all Russians make all their “ih” sounds into “ee.” Instead of saying: This is a big hit in my country. It comes out, Zees eez a beeg heet een my KAN-tree. They simply don’t hear it. Speaking a foreign language with an accent is the norm. It’s absolutely fine. We just need to make sure that we’re understood. So let’s get back to that troublesome letter ?. Repeat the following after the speaker: ??….?? That first one, ??, is the word Russian word for “you” when speaking to a friend or family member. Try it again? Next: ??…?? Let’s also add a letter after the vowel. Compare these: ????…..???? The meanings of those two verbs are wildly different. The first means “to be.” The second means, “to beat someone, or something.” Let’s try the past tense of those. Again, the only difference is the vowel. Listen… ???…vs…??? One trick I found immensely helpful was to puff your cheeks when you say that first one. Like when you’re cold. Brrr. For a moment, your lips close fully and your cheeks puff out. Brr. ???. They feel very similar. Let’s make that our official phrase of the day. The speaker will say: I was in the bank. Listen and repeat. ? ??? ? ?????. A woman would say it with an “ah” sound at the end of the verb. So she’ll say ????. Listen… ? ???? ? ?????. How would a guy say: I was in McDonalds. ? ??? ? ???????????. And a woman would say it: ? ???? ? ???????????. I was in the theater. (man) ? ??? ? ??????. (woman) ? ???? ? ??????. How would you say: The boy was in the park. ??????? ??? ? ?????. How about: The toy was in the bank. ??????? ???? ? ?????. Notice how the speaker used the feminine version, ????, because ‘???????’ is feminine. This whole business of word gender, it’s beyond the scope of this pronunciation course, but we deal with in great detail in my Russian Made Easy podcast, and also in my new podcast called Understanding Spoken Russian. There you’ll really learn to pick out the gender of nouns and verbs just by ear, which is a great skill. Again, that podcast is called Understanding Spoken Russian. It’s in all the usual places: iTunes, Google Play. Let’s continue our review. What should you say to someone first thing in the morning? ?????? ???? And to someone when you see them in the afternoon? ?????? ???? Next, ask someone on the street: Where is located the theater? ??? ????????? ?????? How would a woman say: My name is Olga. ???? ????? ?????. Did you catch that soft-sign after the letter ‘L’? Not ‘Olga’ but ?????. Gotta bring that tongue up. Anyway, tell her: Very pleasant…as in, It’s very pleasant to meet you. ????? ??????? You need to leave but you’ll see her later, so what do you tell her? ?? ??????? And finally, if you go to Washington D.C., the White House, the Capital building, the Lincoln memorial, the Washington Monument…these are some of the…what’s the word? ????????????????????? Alright, let’s do some more work with ? and ?. Listen and repeat: ??….?? Next the letter ‘P’ (?) : ??…?? Let’s try some listening practice with these. You can echo the speaker if you’d like, but really I just want to see if you can spot the difference. So in each of the following words, say “the first one” if you hear that troublesome ? vowel…and say “the second one” if you hear the ? vowel. Ready? ?????….1st one ???….2nd one ???? … 1st one ?????….2nd one ????…2nd one ??….1st one ??….2nd one ??….there it is, the first one. Remember, ?? is the formal version of “you” in Russian. How’d you do on that? If you get the chance, I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to send me an email at: mark (at) russianmadeeasy ((dot)) com

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 5 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. A lot of pronunciation courses, at some point, teach you tongue twisters. Although there’s some value in trying to pronounce them, they’re usually not very useful phrases. Right? I mean, how often do you find yourself saying, Rubber baby buggy bumpers. Or: She sells seashells by the seashore. So, instead of a tongue twister, let’s try to master the longest word in conversational Russian. This is an actual word, used all the time…especially in the domain of Russian tourism. Listen: ????????????????????? For the record that word has twenty-one letters. Here are just the first two syllables: ??-??? (“duh-stuh”) We’re going to learn it in four small chunks like that. And to make it sink in, I’m going to mix in review from previous episodes. Because that’s how memory works. You need delays between re-testing of new material. Before getting to that review, though…What were those first two syllables? Started with a ‘D’…..??-??? Good. And here are the next two: ???-?? (“pre-myeh”) So putting the first two parts together we have: ??-???–???-?? And to get it fast, we can use the Consonant-vowel separation technique from the previous episode. Right? We flatten all the vowels: duh-stuh-pruh-muh Hit pause. Try to get that fast. Now let’s alternate. Just the consonants, and then we’ll being in the vowels. duh-stuh-pruh-muh duh-stuh-pre-myeh Excellent. Okay, now here’s our review. So…Imagine you’ve just woken up. How should you greet your roommate? ?????? ????. You’re just had lunch with a friend and are parting ways. What’s the Russian equivalent for “See you later?” ?? ???????. Literally…what? Until the meeting. And getting back to today’s new word…What did we learn of it so far? It started with a “duh” sound. ?????-????? More review. Quick, what’s the Russian word for toy? ??????? And again, today’s new word? The first half of it, anyway. ?????-????? Alright. Now here’s the next part: ??-???? (“chah-til”) And the final two syllables are: ??-??? So the second half was: ??????–????? Let’s again focus on the consonants by flattening the vowels: chuh-tuh-nust-uh Hit pause and try that on your own. Notice just for fluency purposes I’m dropping the “L” from ??????…. So anyway, let’s get that going….chuh-tuh-nust-uh…then let’s bring in the vowels…??????????? And what was the first half again? ??????????……. And the second half: ….??????????? So, altogether now: ????????????????????? Phew! Now, what in heck does that word mean? Well, in New York City, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Central Park…those are just some of that city’s ?????????????????????. Can you tell me what the ????????????????????? are in London? You have Buckingham palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben, the parliament building. So, how would you translate the word ?????????????????????? It’s “the main tourist sites” Quick sidetrack here. The word meaning “center” as in, the city center, the downtown area of a city…that word in Russian is a cognate. But it starts with a “ts” sound like at the end of the word “hits.” Listen? ????? And to say “in the center” it’s this: ? ?????? There’s a little “yeh” sound at the end. So, with that in mind, imagine I’ve told the desk clerk in my hotel that I intend to see all the sights today. ??????? ? ????????? ??????? ??? ?????????????????????. She might tell me… ??? ????????????????????? ????????? ? ??????. Can you translate what she said? Listen again: All the main tourist sites are located in the center. Let’s do some more translating. ???????. boy ??????? toy ?????? ???? Good morning ?????? ???? Good day Where is the cashier located? ??? ????????? ?????? ???? ????? ??????. Me they call Polina…in normal English: My name is Polina. Tell her: Very pleasant…as in, It’s very pleasant to meet you. ????? ??????? You need to go but you’ll see her later. What do you say? ?? ??????? And finally, in Moscow: Lenin’s tomb, Red Square, St. Basil’s church….these are some of the… what’s the word? ????????????????????? Alright, I’ll see you in the next episode. And in the meantime, if you want to focus on your conversational Russian skills, be sure to get my Russian Made Easy podcast.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Today we’ll learn a cool technique for developing your fluency. All we really do is—in whatever word or phrase we’re focusing on—we change all the vowels to the same sound. For ex: You’ve probably encountered the phrase: ???? ????? Like: ???? ????? ????. Literally: Me they call Mark…which is how Russians introduce themselves. So, to develop our fluency with that phrase, let’s change all the vowels to an ‘uh’ sound. Like this: muh…nuh…zuh…vuh And try to say it faster and faster. Now let’s look at just the vowels. They are, in essence: ih-ah-uh-oo So we have: muh…nuh…zuh…vuh …and now we add in the vowels…??-??-??-??? Let’s try that technique with this word: ?????????. So here are just the consonants, with a generic “ah” sound: ??—??—??—??. And here are the vowels, in essence: ?-?-?-? Putting them together… Now, you might be thinking: Wait! Isn’t it too early for me to be worrying about fluency and speed? No. Believe it or not, you want to strive for fluency right from the start. Mind you, fluency does not mean “speaking without an accent”, it means speaking without pause. It…s…no-t…com-for-tuh-ble to list…to lis-ten to-some-one—speak-in-G…like…this. It’s not comfortable for us to listen to very slow, careful speech. Now, what was that word we were just practicing? It begins with an ‘N’ sound. ????????? What does it mean? Imagine you’re traveling and you’re a bit lost. You’re wheeling your suitcase behind you and you stop someone. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the train station ??????????” Try that again…this time ask about the post office. So you’re carrying around a bunch of postcards that you’re dying to mail off. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the post office ??????????” So ????????? translates as “is located”. Can you tell me where the train station *is located?* Let’s try that all in Russian. Listen as our speaker asks: Where…is located…Starbucks? ??? ????????? ????????? You try it. Ask: “Where…is located….McDonalds?” ??? ????????? ??????????? In Russian, “?????” is the cashier—the place in a store where you pay. It can be hard to find sometimes, so let’s ask: Where is the kassa? ??? ????????? ?????? Alright. Getting back to our consonant-vowel separation, let’s try a new one. let’s make this our official new phrase of the day. So…The first time I see someone in the morning, I’ll tell them: ?????? ???? That’s two words. Listen again? ?????? ???? Literally: Good…morning. Let’s repeat just the consonants, using a generic “uh” sound…duh-bruh—uh—truh. And now the actual vowels: oh—uh-yeh—oo—uh I like to switch back and forth. duh-bruh—uh—truh ..and then I slip in the vowels: ?????? ???? This next greeting is very similar. Imagine it’s the middle of the day and I see a friend for the first time, so I tell her: ?????? ???? She smiles and waves back. ?????? ???? So here are the consonants: duh—bruh—duh (There is an “N” at the end, but I ignore that when I’m going for speed. So I keep it at: duh—bruh—duh) And basically the vowels: oh—ee—ain So, let’s review. You wake up and see your roommate in the kitchen, pouring a bowl of cereal. How do you greet him?…?????? ???? You get to work at noon. Greet the secretary: ?????? ???? Next, ask someone on the street: Where is located the theater? ??? ????????? ?????? That might be a new word for you: ????? (slow), so let’s try it one more time. Where is located the theater? ??? ????????? ?????? That might be a new word for you. Here’s the word “theater.”: ????? Let’s try it one more time: Where is located the theater? ??? ????????? ?????? And going further back with our review: What’s the word for “boy” in Russian? ??????? And “toy”? ???????. And from the last episode….As you part ways with someone, what might you say? ?? ??????? Let’s do one more example of consonant-vowel separation. So, going back to the first phrase that we tried it on…do you remember that? Say, My name is Sophia. ???? ????? ?????. Well, after someone has introduced themself to you, the appropriate response in Russian is: ????? ??????? Again, you’ve probably encountered that before. It means literally: Very pleasant. So, let’s focus on the consonants by flattening the vowels to an “uh” sound. uh-chuh-pruh-yut Notice how I’m actually skipping two sounds…the ‘N’ at the end of ????? and the other N at the end of ??????? Because, to me, this is the essence of the phrase: uh-chuh-pruh-yut (Hit pause. Try that on your own.) Now let’s go back and forth. Just the consonants…uh-chuh-pruh-yut Now the vowels…????? ?????(??) Again, to finish, we need that “nuh” sound at the end. So let’s try the exchange again. Say: My name is George. ???? ????? ??????. And they respond: Very pleasant. ????? ??????? Ok, let’s end by listening to a clip from a song. Can you spot today’s official new phrase? (song: ?????? ???? / artist unknown) Alright, see you in the next episode.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 3 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. If you’re new to this course I recommend going back to episode #1 because the lessons are cumulative and they assume you’ve mastered everything in the previous episodes. Anyway, today we’ll be working with consonant clusters. That’s when you have three or more consonants in a row, with no vowel to break them up. English has them. Take the consonants S-P-L…Like the word Splash. That’s a cluster. Or this…I read this in a recipe. Add five twelfths of a pound. How many consonants are at the end of that word, twelfths? You have an L, an F, a Th, and an S. That’s four in a row….which is why it’s so hard to pronounce. Twelfths. Russian, bless its heart, has even more consonant clusters than English. And because the rolled R is so often in these clusters, they can be tough to pronounce correctly. For ex: ????? You have a V sound, a D, and a rolled R. Try it again…????? Don’t worry about the meaning. Let’s just get the sounds down. Here’s another one… ?????? It has a cluster of F-P-R. Here’s the native speaker: Next…??????? That has an S-K-R cluster…like the English word “scrape”. Listen again… This (violin playing) is a ??????? by the way. Let’s use that connection between “scrape” and “???????” as a way to remember the word. Repeat this sentence: I gave up the violin because all I did was make scraping sounds. So, that sentence gives us violin…and…scraping…which leads us to the Russian word ??????? Let’s try those three ‘R’ clusters again: ?????…??????…??????? Of course, not all clusters contain an R. Try these… ?????? That starts with a K, an S, and a T. ????? That had a V, a Z and an L. Next: ???????? An S, a K, and a V. Let’s try those three again: ??????…?????…???????? (violin fades in) What’s this instrument again? ??????? Good! For our official new word of this episode, let’s try this one: ??????? That’s a cluster of four consonants in a row. An F, an S, a T, and an R. ??…???…?? Hit pause and practice that one a few times on your own. Alright, lets see if you can you figure out the meaning. So, I’m sitting with a friend in Starbucks and when I offer to buy a second round of drinks, he looks at his watch and shakes his head. “I’ve got an important ??????? with a client. I’d better go.” Or this: At work, I tell our secretary I need to speak with the boss, but she points to his office door. “He’s in a ??????? right now. But if you take a seat…” How would you translate that word? A ??????? is a meeting. And it’s part of a very common phrase used when parting company with someone. In English, instead of ‘saying goodbye’ we might say, “See you later.” It implies that we’ll meet up again, right? In Russian, they say literally: Until the meeting. Listen: ?? ??????? Notice how the ‘a’ at the end of ??????? has changed to an “ee” sound. Listen again… There are a whole bunch of songs that have that phrase in their lyrics. I like this one the best… (song): ???????? – ?? ??????? ?? ?????? Here’s another four-letter cluster. Listen and repeat… ?????? That has a V, a Z, a G and an L….?????? Here’s another one…??????? F, S, P and L…??????? Let’s take a moment and do some cumulative review. My wife and I have twins. Sophia is our little girl. And William is our …???????. Speaking of William, his favorite ____ is a remote control car. ???????. Do you remember the word for violin? It’s not out official new word—I won’t hold you to it—but I’m curious if that mnemonic device worked. I gave up the violin because all I did was make scraping sounds. violin…scraping…leads us to…. ??????? And what’s the Russian version of “See ya later”? Literally: Until the meeting… ?? ??????? Those of you who’ve been studying Russian for a while might wonder why I’ve ignored the most common consonant cluster in Russian: ???????????? It starts with a Z-D-R cluster…zdra…But I’m putting that one aside because we work with it in detail in Episode 4 of my Russian Made Easy podcast. Basically, I don’t want to repeat myself. This was by no means an exhaustive list of consonant clusters, but we did cover the most common and most challenging ones. Next time, we’ll learn a fun technique called consonant-vowel separation, which will really help with your fluency. And since I’m gonna see you again in the next episode, how should I end this one? Until the meeting! ?? ???????!

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Welcome to episode 2 of Learn Russian Pronunciation. Today we’ll tackle one of the biggest sticking points for students of Russian: The rolled R. We’ll start by repeating the following four words after the native speaker. ??? ??? ??? ???? You probably noticed that those were all cognates. That is, they sound very much like their English counterparts. The first two were types of music. Rock and rap. Listen again… The next two were locations. A bar, and the planet Mars. To get a feel for the rolled R, try saying the word “udder.” Did you feel your tongue bounce off the roof of your mouth? That’s what a rolled R feels like. So, for practice, for that first one you could say: udder-ok. Now you can do the same with the word ???…Try: bah—udder…??? Let’s try some Russian names that have an R in them: ????? ???? ???? ???? And some place names. Can you guess these? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? is how Russians say Rome, but I’m not sure, really, why they changed that vowel. Let’s take it up a notch. Here’s the Russian word for hamburger. Listen… ????????? It’s one of those words…once I got it down, it’s all I ordered. I’d pop into a vegan cafe, everyone’s drinking wheat grass…”??, ???????! ?????????, ??????????.” Now here’s another tough one. The Russian word for reporter. Listen: ???????? That’s a tough one. There are three R’s there. ??…???…??? Anyway, for our official new word of the day, let’s try this one: ??????? That, to me, is so Russian! Again, instead of me simply telling you what the word means, let’s see if you can figure out the meaning from context. When I was a boy, my Han Solo action figure was my favorite ???????. My son William’s remote control car is his favorite ???????. It’s all he plays with. Tell me, as a kid, what was your favorite ???????? This is how your brain prefers to learn new words…by figuring out the meaning on its own, from context. Think about it. You know what an ??????? is, and I never actually told you. Here…Let’s try this. I’ll name objects and you call out whether it’s an ??????? or not. Ready? a yo-yo – ??????? watermelon – not an ??????? Lego blocks – ??????? a suitcase – not an ??????? a Barbie doll – ??????? A Hot Wheels car – ???????. Alright…Speaking of new words, do you recall the word we officially learned in the first episode? Fill in the blank: My wife and I have three year old twins. Sophia is our little girl, and William is our….???????. And what’s the Russian word for ‘toy’? ??????? Getting back to our main topic, our rolled R, listen and repeat as our speakers pronounce the names of famous people, all of whom have at least one R in their name. Can you figure out who each person is? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ??????? Chris Pratt, Frank Sinatra, Ariana Grande, Brad Pitt, (phew, that one was tough): Roger Federer. How about these brands? Repeat, and try to guess what they are: ????? ???????? ????? ??????? ?????? Prada, Mercedes, Reebok, Pampers, Hummer And if you get those vowels correctly, if you can avoid the temptation of saying (American accent) Pampers, and make it (Russian) ???????…you’ll go a long way to reducing your accent in Russian. Okay, one more list. Repeat these items and try to guess what they are… ????????? ?????? ????????? ????? ??????? television, guitar, computer, radio, tractor Last quiz before we go. Substitute the two Russian words that we’ve learned in these episodes, into the following sentence: When I was a ____ my favorite ____ was Lego. When I was a ??????? my favorite ??????? was Lego. Remember, if you’re looking to learn conversational Russian, and put your rapidly improving pronunciation chops to good use, then go check out my Russian Made Easy podcast. I think you’ll really like it. And in the meantime, I’ll see you in the next episode where we tackle Russian’s dreaded consonant clusters! See you there.

Full Episode Audio Exercises Only Audio Download Full Episode (right click save-as) Download Exercises Hi, my name is Mark. Welcome to the podcast, Learn Russian Pronunciation. If you have any doubts about your ability to pronounce Russian clearly and easily, then you’ve come to the right place. In these podcasts, by carefully breaking down the speech of my native speaking assistants, I’m going to reduce your accent and greatly improve your Russian pronunciation. Those tricky consonants clusters, the rolled Russian R, voicing and devoicing, soft consonants and those strange Russian vowels….we’ll get you over all those hurdles and more. We’ll even get you developing your fluency, because that, too, is an important part of good pronunciation. We’ll accomplish all this using modern language-learning techniques like consonant vowel separation, minimal pairs, “whisper vowels”, pattern recognition, and so on. All you have to do is follow along, and be sure to repeat out loud when prompted. Are you ready to get started? Try to repeat the following sound after the native speaker… ??? It’s spelled with three letters..the Russian D, A and L. And to my ear, it sounds very much like the English word “doll.” Listen again… ??? On a side note: Whenever I use English as a comparison, I’m referring to what I call American broadcaster English. So, I apologize to my U/K. listeners, and to my friends down under in Australia and New Zealand. Anyway, what was that sound again? – ??? Ok, now listen to this version of it… ???? Hmm. What’s going on there? Listen side by side. The first version…the second version… ???….???? If you have some experience with the Cyrillic alphabet, you might have guessed that we’ve added a soft-sign after the L. Let’s try a different combination. Here’s M-A-L ??? and now with a soft-sign after that L… ???? Again: ???…???? How are they getting that sound? Well, basically, as you pronounce that L, the middle of your tongue comes up to the roof of your mouth. When I do it, I kind of have to kind a half-smile. When I say the first one, ??? ..my mouth barely has to move. But this one…????…my tongue is moving. And my mouth has to open and make room. If you’re still having trouble, one way to kind of cheat is to say the word mile (M-I-L-E) But cut the vowel very short, and again—put the middle of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. “mile” (????) Here…Let me play a clip from a Russian rap song. The singer’s name, in English, is Albina but in the song they call her ????????. And what’s cool is, the guy pronounces her name super slowly. You can just hear his tongue slooowly going up as he glides into the letter L. Check it out… (song: ??????? ???????? – ??????? ????) Let’s try another combination, this time using an O. We’ll do a B sound (as in ‘boy’), an O, and an L. ??? And now we’ll add that little soft-sign at the end, and listen? ???? Let’s try G-O-L…It is the word for goal, in Russian. Listen: ??? but put a soft-sign at the end…???? If we add an F sound at the very end, we get the Russian word for golf. ????? Let’s do all four of those pairs that we worked on. Again, the first one without the soft-sign, the second one, with. ???…????…..???…????….???…????…???…???? Now, in each episode of this podcast we’ll be learning one new word or expression. So here’s the word that we’ll be learning today: ??????? Do you hear that “softened L” in there? So not ??????…it’s: ????-??? I have to bring my tongue up to the roof of my mouth. So, what does that word mean? Well, instead of me just telling you the meaning, which is lazy teaching, let’s see if you can figure out the meaning from context: My wife and I have fraternal twins. Sophia is our little girl. And William is our ???????. Their babushka—their Russian grandmother—went with the standard color bias when the twins were born. “Give the pink blanket to the little girl,” she said, “and the blue blanket to the… ???????.” So ??????? is the Russian word for a boy. Let’s do a little listening practice. So, we’re going to hear words that have the letter L in them, and I want you to tell me if there’s also that ‘soft-sign’ there. You ready? ???? – Nope ?????? – Heard it ???? – Nope ??? – Nope ??????? – Heard it ???? – Heard it Quick quiz: What was our new word for today? I’ll give you a hint: Sophia is our little girl, and William is our…???????. Remember, this podcast is focused strictly on improving your pronunciation of Russian words. Each episode will be pretty short, so we can concentrate on one particular issue at a time. But if you’re looking for a podcast that will teach you to speak conversational Russian, please check out my free Russian Made Easy podcast. It’s on I-tunes RussianMadeEasy app and GooglePlay RussianMadeEasy app or you can go straight to the website and get it there…. RussianMadeEasy.com Meanwhile, for a transcript of today’s episode and to download an audio of just the exercises we did today, then head over to RussianPronunciation.com Before we go…What’s the Russian word for ‘boy’? Beings with an M….??????? Great job. See you in the next episode, where we’ll work on the rolled Russian R.